DOCSLIB.ORG

Monumentality in Context – a Reply from Egyptology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Monumentality in Context – a Reply from Egyptology Monumentality in context – a reply from Egyptology Richard Bußmann Monuments have shaped and are still shaping contemporary views on the past. Gothic cathedrals, the Chinese Wall, and Egyptian pyramids open a window into past civilizations and the lives of people who imagined the world differently from us today. Cross-cultural research into early complex societies tends to be focused on monuments of the elite, partially because these seem to embody the essence of a society, and partially because comparison requires flying from society to society at some distance above ground, where monuments stand out, while their context begins to disintegrate (Trigger 2003). In their introduction, the editors of this volume show that monuments have complex stories to tell. Levenson distinguishes between intended (builder), per- ceived (people for whom a monument was built) and received (cultural memory) dimensions of monumentality, implying that these need not coincide. He also considers forms of monumentality other than built environment. Buccellati sug- gests an agenda for the study of built monuments, which embraces labor organi- zation, typological variation, institutional history, use analysis, phenomenology, spatial context, echoes in later representations, and object biography. Many of these themes are well designed to bring people back into the discussion of monu- ments. Departing from this agenda, Hageneuer and van der Heyden offer exam- ples of life cycles of monuments, from their planning, building and afterlife to modern three-dimensional reproductions. The approaches adopted by the editors rightly make it clear that monuments were not static buildings, but embedded in dynamic processes and various types of social interaction. I would add that historical context, both of the making and the reception of monuments, is a key dimension for approaching monuments. Since pyramids and cultural memory are mentioned in the introductory chapters, I would like to respond to these themes from the point of view of my discipline, which is Egyptology. The pyramids of Egypt are an example of what one could describe as a mis- match between intended, perceived, and received monumentality. In the cultural memory of Egypt in the West, pyramids have long played a recurrent, but rather modest role. Travelers speculated about the historical meaning of the pyramids, 100 Richard Bußmann specifically the pyramid of Khufu who was portrayed by Herodotus as a despotic and hubristic ruler. However, religious knowledge of ancient Egypt mattered more to European scholars and enthusiasts than pyramids alone did (Ucko/Cham- pion 2003; Assmann 2006). In contrast, today the pyramids are icons of ancient Egypt. They are actively promoted by the tourist industry, and traveling to Egypt has become sufficiently affordable for many to experience these monuments physically. The pyramid of Khufu belongs to a small group of extraordinarily gigantic pyramids built in the early Fourth Dynasty, around 2600 BCE. These pyramids had gradually developed from smaller versions and ultimately from much sim- pler forms of the royal tomb (Lehner 1997). Although the pyramids of the Fourth Dynasty are undeniably technological masterpieces, knowledge of how to build them and how to organize labor rested on centuries of experience. A carpet of settlements, workshops, and barracks, located at the foot of the Giza plateau, is archaeological evidence of labor management and the accommodation of service personnel (Möller 2016: 117–157). Papyrus documents, recently discovered at a har- bor site on the shore of the Red Sea and belonging to an official involved in the logistics of pyramid construction (Tallet 2017), also show that pyramid building was an enormous but essentially manageable effort. Khufu’s pyramid was just one element of a much grander social project. It was set centre stage in a planned cemetery, cascading from the royal pyramid and its associated boats to the pyramids of the queens, large tombs to the east of the royal pyramid for the princes, and finally a set of smaller tombs to the west for high-ranking courtiers (Jánosi 2005). The Khufu cemetery continued a tradition of large-scale cemetery planning apparent already under his predecessor Sneferu at Dahshur and Meidum (Alexanian 1995). A few centuries earlier, at the beginning of Pharaonic history, the royal tomb was surrounded by rows of subsidiary tombs of almost equal size, suggesting that the king was imagined as a primus inter pares (Vadou 2008). While the Khufu pyramid at Giza surely emphasizes the centrality of the deceased ruler, the king is presented here as entangled in a more complex set of relationships than the earliest Pharaohs were. The actual monument at Giza, one could argue, is the building into stone of a ranked court community focused on the royal family. Gordon Childe (1945) argued that the monumentality of royal tombs reflected the transition of a society towards territorial statehood. According to Tobias Kien- lin (2007), monumentality and ritual expenditure, in the case of the early European Bronze Age tomb of the ‘Fürst’ of Leubingen, were a means of establishing social coherence in a period of transition, when previous forms of social organization were being reshaped. Along similar lines, Mirsolav Bárta (2013) has seen the Giza pyramids as symbolizing the transition to a fully-fledged administration in Egypt. I have argued elsewhere that the gigantic pyramids might reflect the beginning of Monumentality in context – a reply from Egyptology 101 the territorial integration of the country and that the planned arrangement on the cemetery foregrounds the royal family as the core of court society, thus empha- sizing dynastic inheritance patterns (Bussmann 2014; 2015). Whatever the most adequate interpretation, historical context matters for explaining why and how gigantism at Giza happened in this particular period. With the shrinking size of pyramids in the following centuries, building efforts gradually shifted towards the temples attached to the east of pyramids, where offerings were made to the deceased kings (Posener-Kriéger 1976). Involve- ment in the royal funerary cult was a lucrative business. According to their official titles and inscriptions, courtiers were rather eager to get a share of the revenues. Consequently, it was not the size of a pyramid that mattered to the courtiers, but the social practices centered on the royal funerary cult. As a final note on pyramids, and returning to Buccellati’s comment on the rel- evance of institutional history, the matrix of Egyptian ‘high culture’ developed in the context of the royal tomb. It is only over a millennium later that temples of deities started playing a significant role for central administration and royal display (Kemp 2006: 111–135). In fact, speculative thought in the 3rd millennium BCE revolved around the question of what a king is rather than what a deity is. Theology was a much later offspring in Egypt (Assmann 1983). This development was paralleled by a steady increase in the size of temples, until these dominated the landscape along the Nile in the 1st millennium BCE, when early travelers from ancient Europe made their first encounters with the people of Egypt. Today reli- gious and administrative buildings are often dwarfed by the buildings of private companies and banks, a reflection of the capitalist organization of societies. Com- paring and contrasting monuments through time and across cultures can thus reveal the different institutional settings of societies and help with explaining the varying strategies for the display of core values. The pyramids and temples of ancient Egypt are bound up in what Egyptologist Jan Assmann (1991; 1996) has referred to as the ‘monumental discourse’. The mon- umental discourse encompasses stone-lined buildings, the hieroglyphic inscrip- tions and visual scenes displayed on their walls, and handwritten religious texts, in short: formalized knowledge, access to which was restricted to the elite. The term ‘discourse’ highlights a self-referential dimension of this history, meaning that a monument can respond to a previous monument rather than to a reality outside the discourse. Simplifying a little, building a pyramid can be a statement about continuing an existing order rather than about the actual power of an indi- vidual king. For this reason, monuments do not speak directly to a visitor or a reader, but require contextual analysis within the language – material, visual, or written – in which a society communicates. The monumental discourse lies at the heart of the cultural memory of ancient Egypt. Following Assmann (1992), one can distinguish between individual mem- 102 Richard Bußmann orizing, social memory based on face-to-face communication, and long-term cultural memory, which requires formalized institutions for the transmission of knowledge, predominantly in writing. The cultural memory of Egypt is thus an elite practice, both in terms of what is remembered and who is remember- ing today. Discussions of cultural memory have opened up important lines of research, including on the relevance of the past for the contemporary world. How- ever, a cultural memory of Egypt based on the monumental discourse runs the risk of forgetting social contexts in the past and presenting knowledge as a his- tory of ideas devoid of the people who produced and consumed them. Seen from this angle, cultural memory almost emerges as a counter paradigm to an object biography, if the latter is understood as
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Was the Function of the Earliest Writing in Egypt Utilitarian Or Ceremonial? Does the Surviving Evidence Reflect the Reality?”
    “Was the function of the earliest writing in Egypt utilitarian or ceremonial? Does the surviving evidence reflect the reality?” Article written by Marsia Sfakianou Chronology of Predynastic period, Thinite period and Old Kingdom..........................2 How writing began.........................................................................................................4 Scopes of early Egyptian writing...................................................................................6 Ceremonial or utilitarian? ..............................................................................................7 The surviving evidence of early Egyptian writing.........................................................9 Bibliography/ references..............................................................................................23 Links ............................................................................................................................23 Album of web illustrations...........................................................................................24 1 Map of Egypt. Late Predynastic Period-Early Dynastic (Grimal, 1994) Chronology of Predynastic period, Thinite period and Old Kingdom (from the appendix of Grimal’s book, 1994, p 389) 4500-3150 BC Predynastic period. 4500-4000 BC Badarian period 4000-3500 BC Naqada I (Amratian) 3500-3300 BC Naqada II (Gerzean A) 3300-3150 BC Naqada III (Gerzean B) 3150-2700 BC Thinite period 3150-2925 BC Dynasty 1 3150-2925 BC Narmer, Menes 3125-3100 BC Aha 3100-3055 BC
    [Show full text]
  • Nilotic Livestock Transport in Ancient Egypt
    NILOTIC LIVESTOCK TRANSPORT IN ANCIENT EGYPT A Thesis by MEGAN CHRISTINE HAGSETH Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARTS Chair of Committee, Shelley Wachsmann Committee Members, Deborah Carlson Kevin Glowacki Head of Department, Cynthia Werner December 2015 Major Subject: Anthropology Copyright 2015 Megan Christine Hagseth ABSTRACT Cattle in ancient Egypt were a measure of wealth and prestige, and as such figured prominently in tomb art, inscriptions, and even literature. Elite titles and roles such as “Overseer of Cattle” were granted to high ranking officials or nobility during the New Kingdom, and large numbers of cattle were collected as tribute throughout the Pharaonic period. The movement of these animals along the Nile, whether for secular or sacred reasons, required the development of specialized vessels. The cattle ferries of ancient Egypt provide a unique opportunity to understand facets of the Egyptian maritime community. A comparison of cattle barges with other Egyptian ship types from these same periods leads to a better understand how these vessels fit into the larger maritime paradigm, and also serves to test the plausibility of aspects such as vessel size and design, composition of crew, and lading strategies. Examples of cargo vessels similar to the cattle barge have been found and excavated, such as ships from Thonis-Heracleion, Ayn Sukhna, Alexandria, and Mersa/Wadi Gawasis. This type of cross analysis allows for the tentative reconstruction of a vessel type which has not been identified previously in the archaeological record.
    [Show full text]
  • ROYAL STATUES Including Sphinxes
    ROYAL STATUES Including sphinxes EARLY DYNASTIC PERIOD Dynasties I-II Including later commemorative statues Ninutjer 800-150-900 Statuette of Ninuter seated wearing heb-sed cloak, calcite(?), formerly in G. Michaelidis colln., then in J. L. Boele van Hensbroek colln. in 1962. Simpson, W. K. in JEA 42 (1956), 45-9 figs. 1, 2 pl. iv. Send 800-160-900 Statuette of Send kneeling with vases, bronze, probably made during Dyn. XXVI, formerly in G. Posno colln. and in Paris, Hôtel Drouot, in 1883, now in Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum, 8433. Abubakr, Abd el Monem J. Untersuchungen über die ägyptischen Kronen (1937), 27 Taf. 7; Roeder, Äg. Bronzefiguren 292 [355, e] Abb. 373 Taf. 44 [f]; Wildung, Die Rolle ägyptischer Könige im Bewußtsein ihrer Nachwelt i, 51 [Dok. xiii. 60] Abb. iv [1]. Name, Gauthier, Livre des Rois i, 22 [vi]. See Antiquités égyptiennes ... Collection de M. Gustave Posno (1874), No. 53; Hôtel Drouot Sale Cat. May 22-6, 1883, No. 53; Stern in Zeitschrift für die gebildete Welt 3 (1883), 287; Ausf. Verz. 303; von Bissing in 2 Mitteilungen des Kaiserlich Deutschen Archäologischen Instituts, Athenische Abteilung xxxviii (1913), 259 n. 2 (suggests from Memphis). Not identified by texts 800-195-000 Head of royal statue, perhaps early Dyn. I, in London, Petrie Museum, 15989. Petrie in Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland xxxvi (1906), 200 pl. xix; id. Arts and Crafts 31 figs. 19, 20; id. The Revolutions of Civilisation 15 fig. 7; id. in Anc. Eg. (1915), 168 view 4; id. in Hammerton, J. A.
    [Show full text]
  • Cwiek, Andrzej. Relief Decoration in the Royal
    Andrzej Ćwiek RELIEF DECORATION IN THE ROYAL FUNERARY COMPLEXES OF THE OLD KINGDOM STUDIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT, SCENE CONTENT AND ICONOGRAPHY PhD THESIS WRITTEN UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. KAROL MYŚLIWIEC INSTITUTE OF ARCHAEOLOGY FACULTY OF HISTORY WARSAW UNIVERSITY 2003 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This work would have never appeared without help, support, advice and kindness of many people. I would like to express my sincerest thanks to: Professor Karol Myśliwiec, the supervisor of this thesis, for his incredible patience. Professor Zbigniew Szafrański, my first teacher of Egyptian archaeology and subsequently my boss at Deir el-Bahari, colleague and friend. It was his attitude towards science that influenced my decision to become an Egyptologist. Professor Lech Krzyżaniak, who offered to me really enormous possibilities of work in Poznań and helped me to survive during difficult years. It is due to him I have finished my thesis at last; he asked me about it every time he saw me. Professor Dietrich Wildung who encouraged me and kindly opened for me the inventories and photographic archives of the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, and Dr. Karla Kroeper who enabled my work in Berlin in perfect conditions. Professors and colleagues who offered to me their knowledge, unpublished material, and helped me in various ways. Many scholars contributed to this work, sometimes unconsciously, and I owe to them much, albeit all the mistakes and misinterpretations are certainly by myself. Let me list them in an alphabetical order, pleno titulo: Hartwig
    [Show full text]
  • Astronomy, Topography and Dynastic History in the Age of the Pyramids
    Astronomy, topography and dynastic history in the Age of the Pyramids. Giulio Magli Faculty of Civil Architecture - Politecnico di Milano Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy It is known since the 19 century that in the layout of the pyramid field of the pharaohs of the 4 th Egyptian dynasty at Giza, a “main axis” exists. Indeed, the south-east corners of these monuments align towards the site of the temple of Heliopolis, which was plainly visible in ancient times. It was later discovered that a similar situation occurs in the main pyramid field of the subsequent dynasty at Abu Sir. Here, the north-west corners of three chronologically successive pyramids again voluntarily align towards Heliopolis. However, the temple was in this case not visible, due to the rock outcrop- today occupied by the Cairo citadel - which blocks the view. In the present paper, a multi-disciplinary approach based on historical, topographical and archaeoastronomical analysis is developed in an attempt at understanding this peculiar feature, which governed from the very beginning the planning of such wonderful monuments. A general pattern actually arises, which appears to have inspired the choice of the sites and the disposition on the ground of almost all the funerary complexes of the kings during the Old Kingdom. 1. Introduction An interesting feature exists in the layouts of the pyramids of Giza and Abu Sir: the presence of a “main axis” directed to the area where the ancient temple of the sun of Heliopolis once stood, on the opposite bank of the Nile. These axes are connected with a process of “solarisation” of the pharaoh which probably started with Khufu, the builder of the Great Pyramid.
    [Show full text]
  • The Gazelle in Ancient Egyptian Art Image and Meaning
    Uppsala Studies in Egyptology - 6 - Department of Archaeology and Ancient History Uppsala University For my parents Dorrit and Hindrik Åsa Strandberg The Gazelle in Ancient Egyptian Art Image and Meaning Uppsala 2009 Dissertation presented at Uppsala University to be publicly examined in the Auditorium Minus of the Museum Gustavianum, Uppsala, Friday, October 2, 2009 at 09:15 for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. The examination will be conducted in English. Abstract Strandberg, Åsa. 2009. The Gazelle in Ancient Egyptian Art. Image and Meaning. Uppsala Studies in Egyptology 6. 262 pages, 83 figures. Published by the Department of Archaeology and Ancient History, Uppsala University. xviii +262 pp. ISSN 1650-9838, ISBN 978-91-506-2091-7. This thesis establishes the basic images of the gazelle in ancient Egyptian art and their meaning. A chronological overview of the categories of material featuring gazelle images is presented as a background to an interpretation. An introduction and review of the characteristics of the gazelle in the wild are presented in Chapters 1-2. The images of gazelle in the Predynastic material are reviewed in Chapter 3, identifying the desert hunt as the main setting for gazelle imagery. Chapter 4 reviews the images of the gazelle in the desert hunt scenes from tombs and temples. The majority of the motifs characteristic for the gazelle are found in this context. Chapter 5 gives a typological analysis of the images of the gazelle from offering processions scenes. In this material the image of the nursing gazelle is given particular importance. Similar images are also found on objects, where symbolic connotations can be discerned (Chapter 6).
    [Show full text]
  • Hotep April 18.Pdf (455.4KB)
    The newsletter of The HOTEP Southampton Ancient Egypt Issue 29: April 2018 Society Review of March Meeting produce results which continue to advance our knowledge of ancient Egypt. This was in spite of On Saturday March 17 Violaine Chauvet, the persistent spot-lights, which we were unable to Lecturer in Egyptology at the University of extinguish, washing out some of the details in her Liverpool, presented us with an intriguing detective slides. We have raised this among other niggling story. She pieced together the fragments of problems experienced at recent meetings, with the inscriptions from various museums to show the venue manager, and would ask for your patience relationships between the owners of a group of and forbearance in dealing with these issues which Fourth Dynasty tombs at Saqqara. Comparison of are entirely beyond our control. titles and the similarity of funerary inscriptions, the Hilary Wilson style of decoration and the tomb layout suggest that the Ptahshepses family had access to the best Review of the Spring Informal Meeting quality craftsmanship, probably from the royal workshops. It is likely that these officials were On the Friday evening after the March recipients of substantial royal gifts, such as meeting, Hilary gave one of our infrequent sarcophagi and stelae, as part of their ‘pension informal evening talks. The subject of her talk was plans’ for the afterlife. Violaine showed how she ‘A Prince among Princes: A Biographical had identified a tomb inscription, the parts of Study of Prince Khaemwase’. Khaemwase was which had become separated in different the fourth son of Rameses II and is often called collections, which has now been confirmed as the first Egyptologist as he went around Egypt belonging to the same lintel.
    [Show full text]
  • ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION for Semester I (Under CBCS) Lecture I
    ANCIENT EGYPTIAN CIVILIZATION For Semester I (Under CBCS) Lecture I Egyptian Civilization and the River Nile: An Introduction The ancient Egyptian Civilization thrived on the River Nile. The Nile River basin constituted the cradle for the evolution as well as the decline of the advanced ancient Egyptian Civilization. Roughly 2000 years prior to the beginning of the dynastic period of the ancient Egyptian Civilization around 3100 BCE, there were many settlements that had already developed along the River Nile. These settlements were inhabited primarily by nomads and pastoralists who cultivated crops like barley on the floodplain of the Nile as well as practised fishing and hunting. The ancient Egyptian civilization developed in northeastern Africa in the 3rd millennium BCE. The term Ancient Egypt traditionally refers to northeastern Africa from its prehistory up to the Islamic conquest in the 7th century CE. Archaeological findings over a long period of time have brought to the fore the achievements of the ancient Egyptians in the realm of art and architecture – the magnificent monuments erected by the ancient Egyptians bear testimony to their artistry. Ancient Egypt was like an oasis in the desert of northeastern Africa, which depended on the annual inundation (flooding) of the Nile River to support its population whose primary occupation was agriculture. The fertile floodplain of the Nile Valley was the primary source of Egypt’s wealth and prosperity. The Nile was also Egypt’s sole channel of transportation. Archaeological sources provide us with the information that around 5000 BCE simple farming based on cereal cultivation and cattle herding extending as far as Sudan (the southernmost border of Egypt) had begun leading to the commencement of the pre-Dynastic period of ancient Egyptian history.
    [Show full text]
  • "Royal Statuary," Egyptian Art in the Age of the Pyramids
    EGYPTIAN ART IN THE AGE OF THE PYRAMIDS THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART, NEW YORK DISTRIBUTED BY HARRY N. ABRAMS, INC., NEW YORK This volume has been published in ulIljunction 1\\1 ri~brs reserwd. No pari 01 Ibis pnhli":II;on 'I'Llnsl:lli,,,,, Iwnl tbe I:relll·b hy .I:III1l·S p. Allen with the exhibition «Egyptian Art in the Age of Illay he reproduced or 'T:lIlSlllilled hy any Ill"ans, of essays hy Nadine CIl<'rpion and .Iean-Philipl'" the Pyramids," organized by The Metropolitan electronic or mechanical, indllding phorocopyin~, I.ann; hy .Iobn McDonald of essays by Niu,las Museum of Art, New York; the Reunion des recording, or information retrieval system, with­ Crilllal, I\ndran I.abrollsse, .Ie'lIl I.edant, and musees nationaux, Paris; and the Royal Ontario out permission from the publishers. Christiane Ziegler; by Jane Marie Todd and Museum, Toronto, and held at the Gaieries Catharine H. Roehrig of entries nationales du Grand Palais, Paris, from April 6 John P. O'Neill, Editor in Chief to July 12, 1999; The Metropolitan Museum of Carol Fuerstein, Editor, with the assistance of Maps adapted by Emsworth Design, Inc., from Art, New York, from September 16, 1999, to Ellyn Childs Allison, Margaret Donovan, and Ziegler 1997a, PI'. 18, 19 January 9, 2000; and the Royal Ontario Museum, Kathleen Howard Toronto, from February 13 to May 22, 2000. Patrick Seymour, Designer, after an original con­ Jacket/cover illustration: Detail, cat. no. 67, cept by Bruce Campbell King Menkaure and a Queen Gwen Roginsky and Hsiao-ning Tu, Production Frontispiece: Detail, cat.
    [Show full text]
  • Biblical Timeline (PDF)
    Years from Adam (Anno Mundi – Year of the World) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Adam 0-930 Genesis 5:3-5 Seth 130-1042 Genesis 5:6-8 Enosh 235-1140 Genesis 5:9-11 Cainan 325-1235 Genesis 5:12-14 Mahalalel 395-1290 Genesis 5:15-17 Jared 460-1422 Genesis 5:18-20 Enoch And Enoch walked with God; 622-987 and he was not, for God took Genesis 5:21-23 him. Genesis 5:24 Methuselah Genesis 5:25-27 687-1656 Abel Lamech The Flood The Dates Unknown Genesis 5:28, 30-31 874-1651 Cain Noah Dates Unknown Genesis 5:32 1056-2006 Enoch Japheth Creation Dates Unknown Genesis 5:32, 10:21 1556-? Irad Shem Dates Unknown Genesis 11:10-11 1558-2508 Ham Genesis does not provide dates for the birth Mehujael or death of Cain or Abel or any of Cain’s Dates Unknown Dates Unknown descendants. The genealogy of Cain is Methushael shown here based on Genesis 4 with an assumed average lifespan of 900 years and Dates Unknown age of 75 at the birth of the next generation Lamech Dates Unknown Jabal Dates Unknown Father of those who dwell in tents. Genesis 4:20 Jubal Dates Unknown Father of those who play the harp and flute. Genesis 4:21 Tubal-Cain Instructor of every craftsman in Dates Unknown bronze and iron. Genesis 4:22 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000 1100 1200 1300 1400 1500 1600 Key Messianic Line Key Events Mentioned in Scripture References are to actual event Other historical figures ¶ Indicates prophetic reference Prophets 3300 BC 3200 BC 3100 BC 3000 BC 2900 BC 2800 BC 2700 BC 2600 BC 2500 BC 2400 BC 2300 BC 2200
    [Show full text]
  • Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean During the Old Kingdom: an Archaeological Perspective
    Zurich Open Repository and Archive University of Zurich Main Library Strickhofstrasse 39 CH-8057 Zurich www.zora.uzh.ch Year: 2009 Egypt in the Eastern Mediterranean during the Old Kingdom: An Archaeological Perspective Sowada, Karin N. Abstract: This study presents a revised view of Egyptian foreign relations in the eastern Mediterranean during the Old Kingdom (3rd-6th Dynasties) based on an extensive analysis of old and new archaeological data, and its relationship to the well-known textual sources. The material demonstrates that while Egypt’s most important relationships were with Byblos and the Lebanese coast generally, it was an active participant in the geo-political and economic affairs of the Levant throughout much of the third millennium BC. The archaeological data shows that the foundation of these relationships was established at the beginning of the Early Dynastic Period and essentially continued until the end of the 6th Dynasty with ebbs, flows and changes of geographical and political emphasis. It is argued that, despite thepaucity of textual data, the 4th Dynasty represents the apogee of Egypt’s engagement in the region, a time when the centralised state was at the height of its power and control of human and economic capital. More broadly, this study shows that Egyptian interaction in the eastern Mediterranean fits the pattern of state-to-state contact between ruling elites which was underpinned by official expeditions engaged in gift and commodity exchange, diplomatic endeavours and military incursions. Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-143040 Monograph Published Version Originally published at: Sowada, Karin N.
    [Show full text]
  • UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology
    UCLA UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology Title Cartouche Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3g726122 Journal UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, 1(1) Author Spieser, Cathie Publication Date 2010-01-23 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California CARTOUCHE اﻟﺨﺮطﻮش Cathie Spieser EDITORS WILLEKE WENDRICH Editor-in-Chief University of California, Los Angeles JACCO DIELEMAN Editor University of California, Los Angeles ELIZABETH FROOD Editor Area Editor Individual and Society University of Oxford JOHN BAINES Senior Editorial Consultant University of Oxford Short Citation: Spieser, 2010, Cartouche. UEE. Full Citation: Spieser, Cathie, 2010, Cartouche. In Elizabeth Frood, Willeke Wendrich (eds.), UCLA Encyclopedia of Egyptology, Los Angeles. http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz001nf61t 1063 Version 1, January 2010 http://digital2.library.ucla.edu/viewItem.do?ark=21198/zz001nf61t CARTOUCHE اﻟﺨﺮطﻮش Cathie Spieser Königsring, Kartusche Cartouche The cartouche is an elongated form of the Egyptian shen-hieroglyph that encloses and protects a royal name or, in specific contexts, the name of a divinity. A king’s throne name and birth name were each enclosed in a cartouche, forming a kind of heraldic motif expressing the ruler’s dual nature as both human and divine. The cartouche could occur as a simple decorative component. When shown independently the cartouche took on an iconic significance and replaced the king’s, or more rarely, the queen’s, anthropomorphic image, enabling him or her to be venerated as a divine entity. Conversely, the enclosure of a god’s or goddess’s name in a cartouche served to render the deity more accessible to the human sphere.
    [Show full text]